The history of American passenger railroading has been filled with a lot of ideas and, yes, even failed attempts. Consider the futuristic Aerotrain, Talgo, and Train X, or conventional trains like the Golden Rocket, Atlantic City Express, American European Express, Louisville Auto Train and The Aces. Ultimately they were unsuccessful and disappointments at best or in the case of the former stillborn at worst. The old adage that “timing is everything” might have a ring of truth to some of the efforts coupled with the twin challenges of finance and politics. Believing that one should not continue to hit one’s head against the wall, advocates of enhanced American intercity rail have come to accept failure, lethargy and infighting as the norm. A certain fatigue has set in, the case of the inability to resurrect a full route Sunset Limited, the Pioneer and the Montrealer comes to mind. Further insidious examples include two attempts to bring high-speed rail to Florida, and the…

The Federal Transit Administration published federal policy guidance which, in conjunction with the final rule FTA published in January, 2013, outlines the details of the new, streamlined evaluation and rating process for New and Small Starts projects under Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Additionally, FTA has posted updated reporting instructions and forms for the new process, available on FTA's website here.

DC.StreetsBlog.org described the day's fireworks with the headline "Amtrak Foe Mica Meets His Match in John Robert Smith." Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor Tanya Snyder offered a detailed summary of the exchange between Smith and MIca, the "self-appointed Amtrak bully-in-chief."

When you get annoyed with people you tell them to take a hike, or get outta town. In my case, I’d like to tell CNN to take a ride, in particular, a train ride; even more specific, a loooong train ride across America through big cities and small towns. I’d be happy to escort them.

Reconnecting America today released an updated interactive map showing all of the fixed-guideway transit projects in the United States. You can read more about the project in this Reconnecting America News report or you can go directly to the map here.

An April 2012 article from the Journal of Public Transportation entitled "Bus or Rail: An Approach to Explain the Psychological Rail Factor" has been added to the Research Center best practices database. The article by Milena Scherer of ETH Zurich and Katrin Dziekan of the Berlin Institute of Technology explores whether there is an inherent preference for fixed rail transit among transit riders and why. The research found a preference for using rail, assum­ing equal service conditions, of 63 percent for regional train and 75 percent for trams compared to bus services. The rail factor is highly loaded with emotional and social attributions, the researchers note, and account for 20–50 percent of the share in the different schemata for bus, rail, and tram.

Transit Cooperative Research Program Report 153, "Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations," has been added to the Research Center best practices database. The report offers guidelines for providing access to rapid transit stations, describes a station access planning process, and provides a high-level station access planning tool.

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The Half-Mile Circles blog is a place to share information about recent research, innovations and other issues related to TOD and livable communities. We also invite experts to talk about their work. Combined with Jeff Wood's The Other Side of the Tracks, the Half-Mile Circles blog is an opportunity for a daily dose of TOD, and allows you to weigh in with your own opinions. Usual blog rules apply; please keep the comment threads civil. To submit an expert article, contact Jeff Wood